The letter said, "Mistakes are made, but this one is especially unfortunate." Szewczyk said he's spoken with several state agencies about the matter. The bottom line is that the younger Butler was elected and the Democrats have to figure out how to deal with the mistake, Szewczyk said.

Wabno said that there's no doubt the elder Butler was endorsed, but somehow his son's name was submitted to her office on the "certificate of party endorsement," the official document listing the endorsed candidates.

She said the error wasn't discovered prior to the election, even though a mock ballot was hanging in City Hall for weeks prior to the election.

"This is extremely rare," said Av Harris, director of communication for the Secretary of the State's office. In fact, he said, no one in the office, including the attorneys, have ever heard of this type of error happening.

But no matter how it happened, James J. Butler is the one who voters elected and the Democrats have to find a resolution, Harris said.

Dan Foley, who was the Democratic Party's nominee for mayor, is just as confused as the rest of his fellow town committee members.

"It looks like it was just a misprint," said Foley, who lost to Republican Mayor Anthony Staffieri by just 28 votes. "We just don't know how it happened and are backtracking to find out how."

He said DTC members checked the minutes from the nominating convention. "We definitely nominated the father," he said.

Foley will also be at Friday's meeting. "We are going to try to unravel this and see how best to handle it," he said.

Options include swearing in James J. Butler on Dec. 3, have him resign, and then have his father replace him. Another would be not to swear in anyone for that seat and allow the normal vacancy rules to apply.

Meanwhile, James R. Butler is looking forward to resuming his place on the A&T board. "I really enjoy serving on it, or I wouldn't have run for it again," he said.

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Sheila Parizo could not be reached for comment Tuesday.